Comic Books and Lonely Boys
by EverythingBromance
Summary: "The boy had always been kind of a loser. He wasn't an athlete nor incredibly intelligent and always had his nose stuck in a comic book. He was made fun of quite a bit and didn't have any friends. Sometimes he didn't mind, but most of the time he really wished he had a friend to talk to and confide in." Pre-series; Hiro & Ando friendship fic.


**A/N:** First Heroes fanfiction, yay (it certainly won't be the last, I guarantee it! I only hope this was in character enough). After watching It's Coming and learning Hiro and Ando had known each other since they were around ten years old... well I couldn't just do nothing with that fact could I? So enjoy some preseries fanfiction. It basically starts from where they are about ten and it ends in what would be between seasons 2 and 3. :)  
(I also unfortunately don't know Japanese, so we're going to say all the dialogue is translated from Japanese. Just imagine them like if they were to be subtitled on the screen. ;))  
PS. I threw in a line from Smallville in there to overdose it with the superhero/Superman thing!

* * *

"But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"  
_- Pompeii by Bastille_

* * *

**Comic Books and Lonely Boys**

All stories begin with a random act setting off a string of events.  
Friendships are almost the exact same way.

A young boy sat against the wall of a school, all by himself. His eyes were focused on the book in his hands. Yes it was a comic book, but not just any comic book. It was an ultra-rare issue of Superman the boy thought that he would never get his hands on. The boy guessed that having a pretty rich father may have been the main reason he was holding the comic right now.

He wanted to open it up, but didn't want to cause it any sort of damage. Despite there being a previous owner, the comic was as good as new. He wished he was a collector with shiny, expensive comic cases and enough restraint to wait for a second copy before reading the issue. He gazed at the cover's unique artwork and sighed, not being able to handle the suspense any longer.

He flipped open the first page and gazed at the panels. They showed drawings of Superman as he went on yet another important mission to save the day. He was the evil that plagued his world, if not all of it, at least some.

The boy had always wanted to be like Superman. He wished to be a hero who used amazing abilities to protect the world from all threats. Of course he doubted that this would ever happen. He was most likely going to be forced into working at Yamagato Industries (his dad's company) when he grew up. Even if he wasn't, the boy didn't think he would be gifted with superpowers.

He also always wished he could be as significant and as cool as Superman. The boy had always been kind of a loser. He wasn't an athlete nor incredibly intelligent and always had his nose stuck in a comic book. He was made fun of quite a bit and didn't have any friends. Sometimes he didn't mind, but most of the time he really wished he had a friend to talk to and confide in. The boy sighed and flipped to the next page of the comic book.

"Hey, Hiro!" A voice called.

The boy looked up immediately at the person who was calling his name. His heart fell when he saw Haruki, the guy who was always making fun of him. He had a couple friends with him, but the rest of his group wasn't there.

Haruki was a part of a large circle of students in Hiro's school. A lot of them were friends, but Hiro suspected some of them just went to that circle because they had nowhere else to go. Hiro however, was never accepted into that circle unlike everyone else, but he didn't truly care about being part of it either.

"What are you reading?" Haruki asked.

"A comic book," Hiro replied simply, before adding, "it's a rare issue of Superman."

"Superman, huh? Let me see."

"No."

"Why?"

Hiro sighed. He knew that if he were to ever give up the comic he would only get taunted further or Haruki would steal the comic and run off with it. And of course Hiro wouldn't be able to run fast enough to catch the boy and retrieve his comic.

Haruki then made a comment about how Superman was one of the worst superheroes of all time. His two friends agreed with him and made quick cases of why. Of course they did all this to annoy Hiro. While they were chatting about Superman, another boy walked up and stood next to them. He seemed to be trying to catch on to what they were saying, and although the other boys saw him approach they didn't fill him in. Hiro assumed this boy was one of the kids who stood with that circle of friends because he had nowhere else to go. It was easy to tell that the boy felt a little uncomfortable around the others. He must have felt like an outsider.

Haruki glanced down at Hiro's comic again. "The art is so bad!"

"It's an older edition." Hiro explained.

Haruki snorted. "You're such a loser. All you ever do is sit in this corner and read comic books! Do you even _try_ to blend in with the rest of us?"

"Maybe I don't want to be the same!"

"Well you're _too_ different! Come on Hiro! Give me the comic and maybe you can come play with us."

"No."

Hiro knew something bad was about to happen when he saw the angry look in Haruki's eyes. He realized he was correct when with the blink of an eye Haruki had snatched up the comic book. Haruki held the book up high just as Hiro jumped to his feet. Hiro tried to reach up and grab the book, but he wasn't tall enough to retrieve it. Haruki's friend laughed while the outsider boy looked troubled.

"Please, give it back!" Hiro begged. "I only just got this issue and have wanted it for a long time now."

Haruki just smirked. "I'm sure you can get another one."

"No, it would be near impossible to find this issue again!"

"Then it's too bad you never got to read this one."

Before Hiro could even form another word Haruki had ripped the comic book in half. Hiro screamed no, but Haruki just kept ripping the book. Tears began to form in Hiro's eyes as he watched the book being torn apart. Haruki's two friends just laughed while the outsider boy looked shocked.

"Haruki, stop!" The outsider boy said.

Haruki rolled his eyes at the boy, but let the remaining little pieces of the comic fall to the ground. Haruki glanced at the remains of the book once more before walking off with his friends. They laughed as they walked away.

Hiro fell to his knees and picked up a piece of the comic. It was only half of a panel and he couldn't read all of the dialogue in the box. A tear fell down his cheek and hit a piece of the comic that was spread across the ground. He couldn't believe that Haruki would do something this cruel to him. His vision blurred with tears just as another person sat on their knees in front of the comic shreds. Without even looking up, Hiro knew that it was the outsider boy, who hadn't headed off with Haruki and his friends. Hiro could tell this boy was a good person, but he didn't care for having him around after what happened.

"Please go away…" Hiro whispered, wiping away the tears in his eyes.

"I-" The boy started.

"Ando, are you coming or what?!" Haruki's voice called.

"Uh… Yeah!" The outsider boy called, standing up.

Hiro watched as the boy, Ando, walked towards the other boys. When he was only a few steps away, Ando turned around and locked eyes with Hiro.

"I'm sorry." Ando apologized, before turning and running to catch up with Haruki.

Hiro looked back down at the comic book shreds and tried to stop more tears from falling as he picked up the pieces.

-CBALB-

The next day, Hiro sat against the same wall without any comic to read. He was now too afraid that if he brought one of his beloved possessions Haruki would tear it apart. He just sat and tapped his toes, wishing that he could be somewhere else. A universe where good always conquered evil and no one would be able to hurt him in any way.

After several minutes, Hiro almost regretted bringing nothing to occupy himself with. Sure there was a possibility of Haruki ruining it again, but Hiro was also almost never bullied two days in a row, so he was probably safe for the day.

More than anything though, Hiro wished he had someone to talk to. If he had a friend, he would never have to sit alone and would have someone to stick up for him. Maybe he could even get that friend interested in some of his nerdy obsessions.

Hiro, with nothing else to do, began watching other kids interact with each other. There were many groups of friends chatting, playing sports and laughing. No one looked bored or lonely. As he stared through the faces, Hiro caught sight of the boy from the other day, Ando. Ando surprisingly wasn't with anyone else, but seemed to be searching for someone, mostly likely Haruki and his group. Strangely enough however, when Ando saw that circle, he just looked right past them. Who was he looking for?

Ando's eyes finally reached where Hiro was sitting and he started walking over in that direction. As he approached, Hiro noticed he was holding something in his hands and seemed to look even more uncomfortable than he did the previous day.

"Hello." He muttered.

Hiro stood up and gave Ando a kind smile. "Hi."

There was a short, rather awkward silence before Ando spoke again, "I'm sorry about what Haruki did to your comic yesterday. That was awful. I'm starting to wish I wasn't a part of their group…"

He paused and looked down, seeming rather ashamed with himself.

"It wasn't your fault. You weren't the one ripping up my comic or laughing. In fact you were the one who told Haruki to stop." Hiro pointed out. Sure Hiro was devastated that his comic was destroyed, but he didn't blame Ando for any of it.

"Anyway… I know it isn't the same, but I got you this." Ando continued as he held out the object in his hand.

Hiro took the object -which he realized was a comic book- from Ando's outstretched hand. It wasn't in the best condition, being wrinkled and torn in one corner. There was a piece of tape covering the torn part in an attempt to make it look better. It was an issue of Superman that Hiro already had at home. It was one of his least favourites and he hadn't read his own copy more than once. However, as he flipped through the pages a little, he seemed to forget that he ever disliked the issue. A feeling of absolute delight consumed him.

He looked up at Ando with a huge grin. "Thank you so much!"

Hiro noticed that his thanks seemed to make Ando relax. Ando suddenly looked a lot more comfortable and a smile spread across his face.

"You like it?" Ando asked.

"Yeah!" Hiro exclaimed. "This is the best!"

"So you've never read that one before?"

"No, I haven't!" Hiro lied. He didn't want Ando to feel guilty about getting him an issue he already had. Hiro was surprised that he would even go through the trouble of getting one in the first place. It seemed like something a friend would do. Although Hiro was friendly enough and had gotten to know many different people, he never really had a real friend before. He suddenly hoped that Ando could change that.

"Great." Ando said, nodding at Hiro before turning around and starting to walk away.

Hiro quickly reached out and grabbed Ando's arm. Ando looked back at Hiro questioningly.

"Do you want to sit and read it with me?" Hiro asked.

Ando glanced around the area for a moment, he seemed to be searching for someone, but the look in his eyes said the person was never there in the first place. When Ando looked back at Hiro, his eyes lit up just a little, like Hiro just might be the friend he was seeking.

"Yes."

Hiro and Ando sat down side by side. They both held one end of the comic, Hiro read the captions and dialogue and Ando would turn the page. Ando had no idea what was going on in the comic so Hiro had to constantly explain it, which he did with great enthusiasm. Ando didn't seem to really care about Superman facts, but listened and tried to remember the facts because of how much Hiro seemed to love it.

When Hiro returned home that day, he put the issue Ando had given him in his pile of favourite comics. He then pulled out his other copy of the exact same issue and looked at it for a moment. This one he didn't care for, his father had bought him this one after Hiro begged him for hours. Hiro's father was angry at him afterwards when Hiro complained that the comic was awful. This copy of the issue didn't feel important.

After making sure no one was around to notice, Hiro slipped out of the house and threw the comic in a garbage bin he knew his family would never see it in. He then rushed back in the house and ran back to his room. As he took out his gaming system, he glanced back at his new copy of the comic he had just thrown out. He smiled, knowing somehow that his and Ando's friendship was going to become the stuff of legend.

-CBALB-

For weeks Hiro brought comics to school for him and Ando to read. They ranged from Marvel to DC, The Incredible Hulk to Green Arrow, and Batman to Spiderman… Hiro tried to bring the ones that told the most about each hero so he wouldn't have to explain them to Ando as much. Ando always tried to learn all the heroes along with their powers, origins and a general idea of their personality; he often however mixed up one hero with another. Hiro was just happy Ando put forward any effort to remember the comics at all.

One day Hiro invited Ando over to his house and convinced him to watch Star Trek. Ando wasn't too sure about the show at first, but Hiro kept making enthusiastic comments about the characters, episodes and plotlines and they ended up watching several episodes. Hiro was going to ask Ando to watch Star Trek again the next time he came over, but changed his mind, deciding Ando may not care all that much. Those suspicions seemed to be confirmed for a couple hours, but eventually Ando ended up asking Hiro if they could watch more, which pleased Hiro greatly.

They started to hang out more and more. At first, they were okay going several days without seeing each other, but as time went by they wanted to spend more and more time with one another. Within a couple years, they had to hang out together every day outside of school for at least a few hours. They didn't have everything in common, but got along so well despite that. Other than the many fun moments, they were with each other through the bad. Whenever something went wrong in one of their lives, the other stuck with him like glue, making sure he knew that the other would always be there.

When Hiro's dad tried to drag him on business trips, Hiro always put effort into trying to get Ando to tag along as well. The trips were quite boring when Hiro was by himself, and Ando always managed to cheer him up. Most of the time Kaito would refuse Hiro's request, but a few times, he actually agreed to have Ando. Hiro could easily admit that those were the most fun business trips he went on.

Years went by, and they reached the age where children usually started to grow up. Ando matured and became more serious and uptight. For years he had been slowly developing a huge interest in girls and for a long time after, that's all he would ever talk about. Hiro didn't mature as much. He may have grown up in a few ways, but he was still the nerdy kid who wanted nothing more than to be a hero. His childish nature never did fade away.

Hiro would still convince Ando to come over and watch nerdy shows with him and Ando would complain at Hiro before and after the shows. However Hiro caught a look in Ando's eyes and the slight smile on his face when he watched or complained and Hiro knew Ando secretly loved the marathons. In fact there were many situations where Ando would seem to love something nerdy or do something very immature and Hiro would realize even more that Ando was secretly almost as silly as him.

Time continued to pass, until they were completely grown up and had been through pretty much everything together.

-CBALB-

Nearly twenty years passed since the day Hiro's comic had been ripped apart. Hiro smiled to himself as he set a box onto the desk in his new (but his father's former) office at Yamagato Industries. He realized that despite all the loses and trouble in the past several months, some things remained permanent.

"What's even in these boxes?" Ando questioned, placing the box Hiro made him carry on the desk next to the other one.

"Entertainment." Hiro answered, opening up one of the boxes and pulling out a comic book.

"You're not even going to_ try_ to work hard?" Ando asked.

"I will work hard!"

"Really…?"

"Yes! Don't sound so skeptical!"

"Hiro…"

"Okay, maybe not _hard_, but I will work!"

Ando rolled his eyes, but looked rather amused with the whole situation. He then opened up the other box and pulled out the first comic, an issue of Batman.

"That's one of the best issues." Hiro informed his friend.

"I know that. You made me read some of these comics more times than I can count." Ando reminded him.

"By the end of the next couple days I'll probably have all the comics in these boxes read two more times each."

"How can you even read them that many times? Don't you think they lose their greatness after a while?"

"Of course not!"

Ando put the Batman comic aside and started to take out some of the other comics in the box. Hiro started to remove comics from the box he'd brought in, wondering for a moment where he was going to put these comics away. He spotted an Avengers issue he loved and started to flip through the pages happily. After everything that had happened the past few months, it was nice to go back to just relaxing and reading a-

"Hiro?" Ando said, sounding surprised.

Hiro quickly looked over to see Ando holding _the_ comic. That crumpled up issue of Superman that had progressively gotten worse in appearance as the years went by. But of course it wasn't the looks that mattered. It was the fact that Ando had given it to him the day they truly met. Ando gave him it out of an act of true friendship that Hiro hadn't experienced before that day. So of course, Hiro could never stand the idea of getting rid of the old comic.

"You still have this?" Ando asked, flipping it opened and reading the pages.

"Of course I do." Hiro replied, looking carefully at Ando as he waited for his friend to say something else.

Ando looked up and locked eyes with Hiro for a moment. The surprised look on his face had disappeared and was replaced with a look of intense appreciation. The environment seemed to fill up with the feeling of their close friendship. Ando looked back to the comic, smiling fondly.

"It's in terrible condition… and it's not even a good issue." he commented.

"It was always more about the thought then the gift itself." Hiro mentioned, slightly repeating what he had been thinking a moment before.

Ando closed the comic and set it on Hiro's desk. He stared at it for a moment longer before looking back to Hiro. "That's enough work for one day, I think. How about we go to the comic book store? You can tell me if my taste in them has gotten any better."

Hiro was going to make a comment about it being Ando's idea to stay here in the first place, but ended up deciding against it. "Okay."

Ando nodded and started to head out of the room. Hiro hesitated before leaving, staring out the window at the streets of Tokyo. Currently it felt like the world was safe, but there was always the possibility that could be changed. If it did, Hiro knew he would be back out there working hard to put everything back together again. And of course Hiro would have his loyal best friend by his side if that day came. He glanced back at the comic Ando had given him once more and smiled. Yes, after everything that had happened in all the years that passed, there was no doubt that Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi were stuck with each other permanently.


End file.
